Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

The Queers - Move Back Home

The Queers are a heroes of pop-punk. Since their landmark Love Songs for the Retarded in 1993, they’ve been champions of the ultra-Ramones-influenced, boneheaded pop-punk tradition. Fronted by Joe King, aka Joe Queer (and can I digress and mention that I really love the tradition of band members taking their band’s name as their surname- the Ramones, the Ergs!, Screeching Weasel, etc.), these New Hampshire punks have released many solid albums.

Move Back Home is yet another great album in a string of hits that started with Love Songs. A few years ago, the album, along with most of the band’s Lookout! Records releases, were re-released on Asian Man Records, and these reissues brought remastering and sometimes bonus tracks. In this album’s case, there’s entirely new artwork, plus 4 additional songs not found on the Lookout! original.

It kicks off with a lyrical nod to their heroes, the Ramones, on “She’s a Cretin,” before hurtling tunefully through “Next Stop Rehab” and the Screeching Weasel sequel “High School Psychopath part 2.” The Weasel references shouldn’t be too surprising; Joe Queer and Ben Weasel have been friends for years, and the Queers seem to take career advice from Ben & co.; when Ben Weasel rescinded the masters for his band’s output from Lookout! Records, and brought them to Asian Man Records, Joe followed suit soon after.

The songs here, while still being decidedly in the Ramones-core pop-punk camp, show off more of the band’s other influences, as their previous works were trending toward. “Hawaii” is a Beach Boys cover, and that sort of bouncy, ’60s pop/surf rock is what influences the pop side of the Queers equation the most. The left-behind-a-few-grades humor is toned down here- there’s nothing like “Can’t Stop Farting” on this album- and it’s balanced out by the love songs, in the vein of “Daydreaming” off of Love Songs. See, for example, the double whammy of “From Your Boy,” a midtempo song, and “Definitely,” which is perhaps the best song on the album.

This album is pretty essential for any fan of the Queers. And the remastered reissue sounds excellent; Mass Giorgini did a great job with the audio here. For someone just getting into this band, this is a great place to start.

Tags: the queers